


Not So Secret (But Still A Surprise)

by Kiraly



Category: A Redtail's Dream (Webcomic)
Genre: Birthday, Cuddling & Snuggling, Fluff, M/M, Post-Canon, Secret Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-10
Updated: 2016-07-10
Packaged: 2018-07-22 19:09:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,198
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7450705
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kiraly/pseuds/Kiraly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hannu has a birthday, and Ville wants to make sure it's the best one ever. But he's going to need some help from their friends.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Not So Secret (But Still A Surprise)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [yuuago](https://archiveofourown.org/users/yuuago/gifts).



> Happy birthday, Yuu! I've had this idea kicking around in my head for a while, and this seemed like the perfect excuse to write it. I hope you have a wonderful day (or at least, a better day than Hannu)! <3

It all started with a slip of the tongue.

“...and I have to call my parents and convince them _not_ to come visit next week. I’m an adult, they don’t need to be here for my birthday! And—”

Ville didn’t hear the rest of Hannu’s rant; he’d latched on to the most important line of it. _His birthday?!? I had no idea it was coming up! He didn’t say anything to me about it!_

Then again, knowing Hannu, he probably hadn’t mentioned it to anyone. The thought of having people make a fuss over him for a whole day—well, _Ville_ thought it sounded like fun, but he knew Hannu would hate that kind of attention. _I can’t just let it pass by without doing_ something, _though_. _I wonder what humans usually do to celebrate?_ Probably not belly rubs and new squeaky toys—that was what Ville always got for his birthday when he was a dog, but it didn’t seem like something Hannu would appreciate. _I guess I’ll have to find out._

He got the chance a few days later, when the twins were on a break and Hannu was too busy swearing at the latest batch of buns to hear them. When Ville asked the question, Joona frowned and tapped his chin, looking thoughtful.

“Hannu’s birthday?” He glanced over at Jonna, who shrugged. “I don’t think he does anything special to celebrate. Usually he disappears into the woods so he doesn’t have to be around people.”

Seeing Ville’s face fall, Jonna added, “But that’s just Hannu being a grump. Most people actually do fun things, like get together with friends. And cake, of course, there’s always a cake.”

“Cake?” Ville’s ears perked up. “That sounds great! Hannu likes cake, right?”

Another significant glance between the twins. “Sure. Who doesn’t like cake?” Jonna said.

“Even Hannu’s weird taste buds probably like cake,” said Joona.

“Perfect!” Ville grinned and leaned forward. “That’s what I’ll do. You two will help me, right?”

“Of course,” Jonna said, “we work at a bakery, we can do a cake in our sleep. What kind do you want, chocolate, or—”

“No, no, that’s okay,” Ville said, “I don’t need help with the _cake._ You two can help me with Hannu. Do you think you can keep him out of the house on his birthday so it won’t ruin the surprise?”

“Oh!” Jonna looked startled for a second. Then her expression turned wicked, and so did Joona’s. “Well, if that’s what you want, I think we can manage it, yes.”

“But are you sure _you_ can manage the cake?” Joona asked. “I didn’t think you had much experience with baking.”

“Well…I haven’t done it before, but I’m sure I can learn! I have a cookbook, and Hannu has been teaching me!”

“ARRRGH!” Hannu slammed a tray down and stormed out of the kitchen. “That’s it! I’m never baking again, I’m moving to Iceland to raise sheep!”

Jonna patted Ville’s arm. “I’m sure you’ll do just fine, then.”

 

* * *

 

Hannu’s birthday dawned overcast and chilly. With autumn underway, the weather was unreliable, but it usually managed to be miserable for Hannu’s special day. To make matters worse, the Kuikka twins were trying to drag him out of the house before he’d even had his coffee.

“Come _on,_ Hannu, you can’t just stay inside all day!” Jonna waved Hannu’s coat, cajoling. “Come with us!”

Hannu folded his arms. “I _can_ stay inside, and I’m going to! Leave me alone!” He didn’t know how the two of them had gotten in—probably climbed through the kitchen window again—but as far as he was concerned they could show themselves right back out. _I just wanted to sleep in, have a quiet morning, and then maybe go for a walk with Ville if the weather gets better._ Instead, he’d been pulled from his bed, haphazardly dressed in whatever clothes were lying around, and by the time he’d woken up enough to protest they were tying his boots for him. And for some strange reason, they weren’t extending this treatment to Ville.

“Why are you two so determined to get me out of here, anyway?” he demanded. “I’m don’t even _like_ rain, that’s Ville! I don’t see you shoving _him_ into his coat.”

“Ah—no, Ville isn’t coming. The wet air probably isn’t good for him, you know how easily he gets sick,” Joona said.

True. But that didn’t explain why _he_ had to go. “I don’t see why—”

Jonna used the momentary distraction to yank a sleeve over Hannu’s arm. “If we told you where we were going, it would ruin the surprise. Quit whining! We’ll be back before you know it, and you two can do your cuddly roommate thing.”

Hannu’s face went bright red— _because I’m angry, this is anger, not embarrassment—_ and he sputtered, “Cuddly…! We do _not—”_

“Really? Because you only have one bed, so it kinda seems like—”

“That’s because...it’s really none of your business—”

“Hannu?” Ville shuffled out of the kitchen, still in his pajamas with his hair tousled from sleep. The sight of him knocked the rest of Hannu’s thought clear out of his mind. “I’m sorry I can’t go with you, but I _do_ kind of have a headache, and I wouldn’t want to make it worse. Have fun without me, though!” He held out a thermos. “Also, I made coffee for you.”

_Gods, Ville. I could kiss you._ Except he couldn’t, not with Jonna and Joona there. So he took the thermos and muttered, “Thanks.”

Then the twins corralled him out of the cozy house and into the rain, leaving his roommate waving from the door. “Bye Ville!” Jonna called.

“Good luck with your... _headache,”_ Joona said, winking.

_It should be illegal to be this cheerful in the morning,_ Hannu thought. “See you later, I guess,” he grumbled.

He didn’t realize, until they were halfway to the woods, that Ville hadn’t said a word about his birthday.

 

* * *

 

Ville closed the door with a sigh. Then he smiled. It _was_ a shame he had to miss going for a walk on such a beautiful rainy day, but he had more important things to do. _And anyway, the look on Hannu’s face when he comes back and sees what I’ve done will be worth it!_

But if he was going to have a cake by the time Hannu got home, he needed to get started. After dressing and donning his apron—it had a border of little blue hearts all around the edges, which Ville loved and Hannu didn’t—he opened the dusty cookbook and squinted at the index. _Cake. C-A-K-E._ All the hours he’d poured into learning to read were paying off. After a few minutes of searching through recipes with fancy ingredients he’d never heard of—what was a _meringue,_ anyway? Some kind of fruit?—he found one that seemed easy enough. _Right. I can do this!_

Ville’s confidence lasted until he opened the cupboard to look for ingredients. _Oh. Right._

Food in the Viitanen household consisted of the four major food groups: milk, hot dogs, day-old buns from the bakery, and a handful of fruits and vegetables that Paju foisted on them once a week “so you won’t get scurvy and die”. Unfortunately, the cake recipe only asked for one of those ingredients. _Hmm. I wonder if I can substitute hot dogs for the eggs? Probably not._ He knew the buns were made _from_ flour, but once they were baked they couldn’t take the place of flour in a recipe. A search of the cupboards turned up nothing in the flour department. They did have milk, salt, and a little bit of sugar for coffee; he wasn’t sure how many packets of sugar it would take to make up a cup and a half, though. _I guess it depends on the size of the cup._

Three ingredients out of eight probably wouldn’t be enough. But that was okay. He’d simply have to go find the rest of them somewhere. And he knew just the place to start.

 

* * *

 

Ville smiled at the cheerful jingle of the door and stopped just inside, as he always did, to close his eyes and let the heady scent of baking bread engulf him. His nose was nowhere near as sensitive as it had been, but there was no denying the rush of good feelings that washed over him whenever he came here. He sometimes felt that the bakery was as much his home as the actual house he shared with Hannu.

When the moment passed, he opened his eyes and walked towards the kitchen. “Mister Kuikka? Umm...Jouko?” It was a little strange, being here without Hannu or the twins. He _thought_ the bakery’s owner liked him, but he always seemed...stressed. Still, if Ville was going to get some flour, the bakery was the obvious place for it. Surely Jouko would let him have some, if he explained why he needed it. He should be fine as long as he didn’t run into—

“Puppy!”

_Oh, no._

A blond head popped up from behind the counter. Blue eyes crinkled; Ville didn’t need to see her mouth to recognize that diabolical grin. Her brother and sister, poor souls, thought she was adorable. Ville knew better.

“Hehehe, come here, puppy!”

Oona also called Ville “Puppy”, for some reason. He told himself it was a coincidence; she didn’t know what he used to be. She couldn’t. But unfortunately, she pretty much treated him the same way she had when he was a dog.

“Play with me!” she cried, darting out from behind the counter.

“Uh...no, that’s okay, I don’t actually want to—no! Stay away!” Ville’s protests went unnoticed; Oona made a beeline for him and latched onto his leg. His attempt to shake her off only made her cling tighter. “Augh! Please leave me alone!” He reached down for her, trying to think of a way to get her to let go—

“Bad puppy!” Oona glared up at him. “Stay still!”

“Nooo, get off get off get—OUCH!” _She BIT me!_ “That hurt, you little monster!”

“What is going on in—OONA! Let go of him right now.” Jouko Kuikka stood in the kitchen doorway, hands on his hips and flour up to his elbows. “What did we say about grabbing people?”

Oona relaxed her grip and backed away. “Dunno.”

Jouko sighed. “You _do_ know, we said _don’t do it._ It’s not nice. Now apologize.”

Oona folded her arms and thrust out her lower lip. “Sorry, puppy,” she said, though she didn’t appear to be sorry at all. She confirmed this suspicion a moment later by sticking her tongue out and running from the room.

“That child.” Jouko shook his head. “I would say I didn’t know where she gets it, except I know exactly where—the twins encourage her. Anyway,” he turned back to Ville, “what brings you here?”

Ville rubbed his leg—Oona really had bitten him hard, he could still feel it—and held out his cookbook. “I was wondering if I could borrow—or have—or...uh...buy? Any of these ingredients.”

Jouko leaned forward to inspect the recipe, and Ville felt compelled to add, “And, uh...I don’t actually have any money to buy them, but I can get some later. I just really need to do this, it’s for Hannu’s birthday!”

“Hmph. Another birthday already? You kids make me feel old. Now, look,” Jouko tapped the cookbook, “if I give you all of these, I might as well just bake the cake, right? Except none of my help is here today, so I can’t really take on a rush order like this.”

“And I’m not asking you to!” Ville assured him. “I want to make it myself. But if you can’t give me any of these, then—”

“Oh, I won’t send you away completely empty-handed,” Jouko said. He beckoned for Ville to follow him into the kitchen, where he dug around in one of the tall cupboards. “I just can’t give you all of this. I’m a little short on some of my supplies right now because one of my employees has his day off today, and two of the others, who were _supposed_ to work here while I went on a supply run, have mysteriously disappeared. I’m _sure_ there’s no connection there,” he continued, ignoring the way Ville squirmed, “but if you happen to see Jonna and Joona, remind them that their poor old father could use their help. Now,” he held out a battered mixing bowl, a tin, and a small sack of flour, “take these. The bowl deserves to be thrown out, but you can carry your ingredients in it for now. Consider the flour and baking powder a gift.”

“Oh! Thank you!” Ville said. He clutched the bowl to his chest. “I’m sure Hannu will appreciate it.”

Jouko snorted. “Well, he can thank me by showing up for work on time once in a while. Now go on, that cake won’t bake itself.”

Still stammering his thanks, Ville left the bakery. _Right. I have flour and baking powder, plus the milk and salt at home...what else do I need?_ He consulted the cookbook. _Eggs! And butter, and sugar. I don’t know where to get all of that, but...doesn’t Paju keep chickens? Maybe she has some eggs!_

* * *

 

Paju opened the door at Ville’s first knock. “What on earth are you doing with all of that?” she asked, gesturing to the bowl of ingredients.

“It’s a cake for Hannu’s birthday!” Ville said.

“No, it’s a bowl with some flour in it.”

“It’s _going_ to be a cake, though. If...um...if you have some eggs I could borrow?”

Paju narrowed her eyes. _“You’re_ baking a cake? At your _house?_ I didn’t even think Hannu owned a mixing bowl. Let me see that.” She snatched the cookbook from Ville’s hand. “Do you have all the rest of this?”

“Umm….not exactly. We’re out of butter, and I don’t think we have enough sugar but I’m not sure…”

Paju was already rooting through her refrigerator. “We have plenty of eggs, and I think—yes, here’s some butter. But I know for a fact that Tuomi used the last of the sugar in his tea this morning, the little brat. How much more do you need?”

Ville shrugged. “I mean, we have some sugar packets, but I don’t know how many of those it will take to fill a cup. Maybe if I use one of the tiny juice glasses…no?”

From the way Paju was frowning, he’d said something wrong. “Ville.”

“Y-yes?”

“Ville, please tell me you have a set of measuring cups at home.”

“A set of…?”

“Actually, please don’t tell me, I’m scared to hear the answer.” She rummaged in a kitchen drawer and came up with some little metal cups with handles, along with a set of tiny spoons attached to a ring. “Here. These are measuring cups and measuring spoons. You will notice the sizes are labeled. When the recipe calls for a “cup” of something, use _this,”_ she held up one of the cups, “and _not_ a juice glass.”

“Oh!” That made sense. How else would the recipe work, with so many sizes of cups to choose from? “Thank you!”

Paju rubbed the bridge of her nose. “Anything to prevent a _complete_ baking disaster. I would come over to help, but I have a huge stack of papers to grade.”

“No, it’s fine! I can do it!” Ville was getting a little tired of people thinking he needed supervision for this. _It’s just a cake! People make them all the time!_

“Well, all right. Listen, if you need sugar you should try Riikka’s house. I was planning to borrow some sugar from her anyway, so I’m sure she’d lend you some, too.”

“Thank you so much!” Ville caught Paju in an awkward hug with the mixing bowl between them. “Just wait, this is going to be the best cake.”

Paju raised an eyebrow, but didn’t contradict him. “I just hope Hannu is properly grateful. He’s usually the biggest grouch on his birthday. Last year he ran off to hide in the woods and didn’t come back all day!”

“I’m sure he will,” Ville said. But he couldn’t help wondering, as he took his leave, how true that was. _He will like it, won’t he? Who doesn’t like cake?_

 

* * *

 

“So, Hannu, be honest,” Joona said, hoisting himself over a fallen tree, “what’s going on with you two?”

The phrase _be honest_ never sat well with Hannu, especially when one of the twins said it. They’d known him forever, and were well-versed in the tactics he used to dodge the truth. And in this case, evasive maneuvers were definitely in order.

“With who? Me and Jonna? Nothing, except that she’s one of two people who think it’s okay to abduct me from my bed.”

Jonna elbowed him. “Don’t be dense, Hannu. He meant you and _Ville.”_

Hannu glared at her. “We’re roommates. That’s it, there’s nothing...going on.”

“Mmhmm. Roommates who share a _bed,_ and spend literally all of their time together?”

“And who constantly watch each other when they think no one else is looking?”

“That’s ridiculous! We don’t spend _all_ of our time together, and the bed thing...Ville has nightmares, it’s not like we’re—”

“Head-over-heels for each other?” Jonna finished.

“Yes! I mean, no, we’re not!”

Joona shook his head. “Poor Hannu, he’s clearly in denial. What are we going to do with him?”

“Get him lost in the woods?” Jonna suggested. “Then Ville can come save him, it will be _so_ romantic.”

Hannu growled and shoved past them. “You’ve _already_ gotten us lost in the woods, and it is _not_ romantic—OW!” He turned just in time for a low-hanging branch to smack him in the face.

“Love hurts,” Joona said, patting Hannu’s shoulder. “Say, have you kissed him yet?”

“Joona!”

“How’s the sex?”

“Jonna!”

_I’m going to die in this forest with the two most annoying people in the world. I hope Ville is having a better day than I am._

 

* * *

 

The walk to Riikka’s house took forever. Everyone Ville passed—and the whole town seemed to be out and about, despite the rain—gave his mixing bowl a curious glance, and then he’d have to stop and explain. And everyone, without fail, seemed surprised that he was baking a cake for Hannu’s birthday.

“I didn’t think that boy even ate sweets, he’s so sour most of the time.”

“A cake? Well that’s nice. If he doesn’t eat it, you can bring some to me.”

“I thought he always hid in the woods for his birthday?”

By the time Ville arrived at the Skärsholm residence, he was starting to second-guess everything. _Maybe he won’t like it. Maybe he’ll be mad that I tricked him._

When Anssi opened the door, grunted, and waved Ville inside to where Riikka waited, Ville couldn’t stop his worries from pouring out.

“I’m making a cake for Hannu and I don’t have enough sugar, but maybe it doesn’t even _matter_ because what if he doesn’t really like cake? What if he’s mad that I got the twins to distract him so I could bake it? He’s going to have the worst birthday ever and it’s all my fault, oh nooooo!!”

Riikka blinked, shook her head, and went to put the kettle on. “Why don’t you sit down,” she suggested, as Anssi gently pushed Ville into a chair, “and tell me what’s going on? From the beginning.”

So Ville set his mixing bowl on the table and drank his tea, and let the whole story out. Riikka nodded, patted his hand encouragingly, and poured more tea when he ran out.

“...and I just...I really wanted this to be special, you know? Hannu’s...he’s...I know he can be rude, and grumpy, but he deserves to have a nice birthday. I want him to have the _best_ birthday.”

“And I’m sure he will,” Riikka said.

“It’s just, he’s my best friend and I love him, and I—wait. You really think so?”

“Of course.” Riikka smiled and rose from the table. “The cake is such a thoughtful gesture, Ville. Hannu will understand. He loves you too, you know.”

Ville stared at her. “He...he does?”

Riikka smiled. “Well, it sure seems that way. You two are together all the time, and he’s nicer to you than I’ve ever seen him with anyone, even his parents. And you’ve lived together...what, nine months? If he hasn’t disowned you by now, he must really like you a lot. That’s what I think, anyway.”

“But...he doesn’t…” _act like it,_ Ville wanted to say, but that wasn’t completely true. Hannu wasn’t affectionate in public; he wasn’t _mean,_ he just kept his grumpy face on most of the time. But at home, with no one else to see...Hannu was softer. He put up with Ville’s ignorance—there were still so many things he didn’t know about being a human—and did his best to be patient. He let Ville try new things, and didn’t yell at him when he messed them up. And then there were...well, the other things. Things the two of them did that Ville knew, without having to ask, that Hannu wouldn’t want anyone else to find out about. Quiet moments in the dark or early in the morning, when the two of them were so close Ville swore they only had one heartbeat between them. Riikka wouldn’t know about that, of course. She meant the public Hannu.

“He doesn’t go around flinging affection at people, Ville,” Riikka said, “but he does care. Deep down. So he’ll enjoy the cake, if only because you made it for him.” She set a small bag of sugar in his bowl. “Now go on, get home and bake it. Here, let me loan you a cake pan, too. I bet Hannu doesn’t have one.”

“Riikka—” Ville didn’t know what to say. Eventually, he settled for, “Thank you. You’re a good friend to Hannu.”

She shooed him out the door with a smile. “We’re _your_ friends too, Ville. I’m glad I could help.”

 

With ingredients in hand and Riikka’s encouragement to bolster him, Ville returned home. He carefully read the recipe and mixed the dry ingredients— _only one teaspoon of salt? That doesn’t seem like very much, maybe I should add a little more—_ and started in on the wet ones. At which point he realized there was one last thing missing.

“Vanilla extract? What...what even _is_ that?” He knew there was such a thing as vanilla ice cream, but they didn’t have any, and in any case he wasn’t sure that was what the recipe meant. “Well...vanilla is a _flavor_ of ice cream...and there are other flavors, so maybe if I put something else in it will just...taste like that instead!” He scanned the kitchen in search of something, _anything_ that might work, and spied the mostly-empty coffee pot in the corner. “Perfect! Hannu _loves_ coffee, I’m sure he’ll love coffee-flavored cake, too!” Ville poured a splash of coffee into the batter, glanced at the recipe again—”oops, I was supposed to measure that”—shrugged, and poured in a little more. He mixed everything together and poured it into Riikka’s pan, then put it in the oven. “All right, now for the frosting!”

 

* * *

 

Hannu couldn’t remember a more miserable birthday. He was sure he’d _had_ one, but it had been years since he’d let anyone else force him into some kind of celebration. By now, everyone pretty much knew he went off on his own, and he’d _thought_ his friends understood that. It was _his_ day, after all. If he wanted to be by himself, he should be allowed. But the Kuikka twins had burst in and dragged him away, and the day had only gotten worse from there. _If they ask me one more question about Ville, I will kill them._

Not only that, but as they walked through town to return home, people kept approaching him and wishing him a happy birthday. Not just his friends—though Paju, Riikka, and Anssi had managed to add themselves to the group, claiming they wanted to “check on Ville”. No, random people he barely ever talked to were greeting him too, like that businessman-turned-farmer and Riikka’s crazy aunt.

“Did _you_ tell her it was my birthday?” Hannu demanded. Riikka and Anssi shook their heads.

By the time they reached the house, Hannu was ready to send his friends packing, get out of his wet clothes, and collapse into bed. “You don’t _have_ to come in and check on Ville,” he complained, “he’s fine. He just has a headache, it’s not like he’s dying.”

“Humor us,” Paju said. She folded her arms and glared until Hannu gave in.

“Fine.” He opened the door and went inside. “Ville? Come prove to these people that you’re alive, so they’ll go away and leave me alone.”

“Come to the kitchen!” Ville called back.

In the shuffle of shucking off shoes and coats, Hannu noticed a _smell_ coming from the kitchen. It wasn’t exactly _smoke_ , but it had a hint of coffee left too long on the burner or the scorched buns Hannu preferred from the bakery. He followed his nose and found Ville in the kitchen, hiding something behind his back.

“What have you been _doing_ in here?” he asked. Dishes cluttered the counter, and—was that a _mixing bowl?_

Ville stepped aside to reveal his creation: a lumpy, lopsided cake with globs of frosting spread unevenly across the top. There was a candle—not a birthday candle, one of the candles from the emergency kit—burning on the top. “Happy birthday, Hannu! I made this for you!”

 

* * *

 

Ville watched Hannu’s face. He saw concern replaced by surprise, which swiftly gave way to confusion. “You baked me a cake?”

Before Ville could respond, the twins grabbed Hannu’s arms and dragged him forward. “Happy birthday! Blow out your candle, let’s eat!”

Ville couldn’t catch Hannu’s eye in the flurry of cake-centered activities that followed. _Is he excited? Annoyed?_ Eventually everyone had a piece of cake in front of them, and Paju poked Hannu with her fork. “Birthday boy gets the first bite.”

Hannu rolled his eyes. “What, am I turning five today?” He shook his head, but dutifully put the cake in his mouth. His eyes closed; a hush fell over the room. Hannu chewed, swallowed, then opened his eyes again. “Wow. You really made this all by yourself?”

“You like it?” Ville leaned forward.

Hannu’s mouth twitched. “Yeah. It’s perfect! You should all try some.”

One by one, the rest of their friends brought forks to their mouths. One by one, Ville watched their eyes widen before they swallowed. _Is that a good sign, or…?_

“Hey Ville, would you mind putting some coffee on? We should have coffee with our cake, right?” Hannu took another bite, grinning.

“Oh! Of course!” Ville set about making coffee, leaving his own cake sitting. Everyone else stayed quiet. _They must really like it. I did it! I made the best birthday cake ever!_

It must have been the most crumbly birthday cake, too, because when he collected the plates, all of them except for Hannu’s had big piles of crumbs on them. Hannu looked downright cheerful as he waved their friends out the door. “Bye! Thanks for coming. Are you sure you don’t want more cake?” A chorus of “no, thank you”s followed them out.

Then the two of them were alone. Hannu muttered something about dry clothes and vanished into the bedroom. Ville reached for his fork, took a bite of his neglected cake...and gagged.

“Hannu!” Ville rushed into the bedroom, where Hannu was halfway out of his damp sweater. “You told me the cake was _good!”_

Hannu freed himself from the clinging fabric. “It _is_ good. I really like it!”

“But it tastes like burnt coffee!” Ville grimaced at the taste lingering in his mouth, then added, “ _Salty_ burnt coffee. How could anyone like that?”

“I like burnt things, remember?” Hannu shrugged. “And on top of that, I got to watch my nosy friends eat salty burnt-coffee cake because they didn’t want to hurt your feelings. So that was pretty great.” He dropped the sweater on the floor and flopped onto the bed. “Anyway, the twins just dragged me all around the woods, so I’m exhausted. Can we save the cleanup for later?”

“We? But...I mean, I could do it…” Ville protested. Hannu shook his head and stretched out a hand.

“Come on, you must be tired too. You spent all day baking me the best birthday cake ever.”

Ville hesitated, then allowed Hannu to pull him down. He really should start cleaning, but...if Hannu wanted to cuddle, he wasn’t going to refuse. He curled around Hannu, carefully arranging his limbs in the narrow space. “I am a little tired. I tried so hard...I went all around town to get the ingredients, you know.”

A smile flickered across Hannu’s face. “Ah. Well that explains why so many people knew it was my birthday. You did a good job, Ville.”

Ville sighed and moved closer. “Was it...the best birthday ever?”

 

* * *

 

Hannu didn’t answer for a while. He knew what Ville hoped he would say, but he couldn’t say it. Not honestly. And Ville...he of all people deserved the truth. Finally, he said, “I don’t know about the _best_ birthday. But this ending is pretty great.”

“Oh.” Ville breathed the word against Hannu’s chest. “I wish I could have made the rest of it better, though. I thought Jonna and Joona would do something fun.”

_And he’s responsible for that, too. When did Ville get so good at keeping secrets?_ “Well, maybe next time _you_ can come to the woods with me and leave the baking to the Kuikkas. Not that I object to the cake, but...I missed you this year.”

Ville drew back and propped himself on an elbow so he could meet Hannu’s eyes. “This year?”

Hannu nodded. “Yeah. Usually we go for a walk in the woods, remember?”

“Oh.” Ville blinked. “I didn’t realize...everyone kept saying you always go out into the woods by yourself. But I guess...you weren’t alone. You took me with you.” His face fell. “I’m sorry. I should have been there.”

“Hey, no.” Hannu tipped Ville’s chin up. “Everything turned out all right. And...you’re here now.” _Should I? What the hell, why not. It is my birthday, after all._ He ran his hand up Ville’s jaw, drew him close, and kissed him.

Ville kissed back, more intense and a little _too_ enthusiastic, but Hannu was used to that by now. He pulled back when it got to be too much, and let Ville feather kisses on his forehead instead. He brushed a strand of coppery hair away from Ville’s eye. “See?” he murmured, “Everything’s good.”

Ville smiled. “It really is. Happy birthday, Hannu.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> Introducing yet another Hannu headcanon - he has _really_ weird taste buds, so a burnt cake would taste totally fine to him. That's lucky for Ville, but not so fortunate for all of their friends.
> 
> Also, I realize that probably the recipe wouldn't have used "cups" as a unit of measure, because Europe, but I couldn't resist having Ville be confused about what exactly a "cup" of sugar would be, so I left it. Poor puppy, he only just learned to read, learning how to measure hasn't come up yet!
> 
> And wow...look at all of those characters. There sure are a lot of them, yep.


End file.
